THE CONTRACT

Starring:
John Cusack, Morgan Freeman, Jamie Anderson, Megan Dodds and Alice Krige

Director:
Bruce Beresford

Running Time:
97 mins

"Now he's just dig his heels in"

Trying to reconnect with his son after the death of his wife, Ray Keene (Cusack) takes Chris (Anderson) hiking. As they head into the mountains, the pair come across two men struggling to stay afloat in the river, one is a police officer who has been shot and the other is his prisoner. When the officer passes away, Ray takes it one himself to take the prisoner in but professional hitman Frank Cordell (Freeman) has a contract to honour and the rest of his team are looking for him.

 

The coming together of John Cusack and Morgan Freeman in a thriller is enough to cause anyone to take notice but can 'The Contract' get your pulse racing?

Two of Hollywood's best actors coming together for a thriller should have any movie fan salivating at the mouth in anticipation of edge of your seat, twisting and turning action. 'The Contract' does enough to draw you in but unfortunately offers nothing new to an already crowded genre.

The premise of a good man doing what is right, even it means risking the life of his son and innocent people around is one that has been used by filmmakers many times before. For this story, John Cusack's Ray Keene is an ex-police officer turned high school coach who is trying to reconnect with his son after the tragic death of his wife. While on a hike, they come across a fatally injured federal agent and his prisoner and Ray takes it on himself to take the prisoner in. The problem is that prisoner Frank Cordell, played by Morgan Freeman, is the head of an assassination team and the rest of his men are coming to free him, killing anyone who gets in their way.

You would think that this premise would set up a confrontation of two Hollywood big hitters but director Bruce Beresford, Oscar nominated for 'Tender Mercies', and his creative team never really push the story and the actors as far as they could go. Instead we have a slightly predictable plot that sees Morgan Freeman as the honourable assassin and John Cusack becomes a one-man army against trained killers. The filmmakers also try to bring in a little bit of intrigue with Alice Krige's character pulling some strings but the film never really captivates you as much as it should do.

The performances from the cast are fine. John Cusack and Morgan Freeman are always extremely watchable and are consummate professionals but it is the script and the real lack of pace or menace that lets them down. Alice Krige is fine as the high-ranking agent Miles, who is pulling the strings. Jamie Anderson is also fine as Cusack's son Chris but the character is a little too winy to really be that likable. There are also decent performances from Megan Dodds and Bill Smitrovich.

'The Contract' is a missed opportunity and a movie that is, at best, very average. With Morgan Freeman and John Cusack involved you would expect a lot more but instead you are offered an unoriginal and quite mundane thriller that never really gets the heart racing.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Widescreen 1.85:1 Anamorphic with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the transfer is good.

BONUS FEATURES

Inside the Contract (21.34 mins)
Director Bruce Beresford, producers Les Weldon and Danny Lerner, director of photography Dante Spinotti, executive producer David Varod and stars John Cusack, Morgan Freeman and Jamie Anderson take you behind the scenes of 'The Contract'. The filmmakers and the stars talk about the story, taking a Hitchcock-like approach, casting and what it is like working with the director. This is a run of the mill featurette that is just a lot of patting on the back on not much information about the movie and how it was made.

Trailers
Previews of 'The Lives of Others', 'Paradise Lost', 'Edison' and '11:14'

OVERALL

With just an average, run of the mill featurette the DVD treatment for 'The Contract' is disappointing. Fans will not get much from this DVD release.

DVD


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2007